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Ukraine destroys $10 million Russian Buk air-defense system, Interior Ministry says

by The Kyiv Independent news desk November 16, 2024 1:36 PM 1 min read
Russian Buk-M3 air defense missile systems parade through Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow, Russia on May 9, 2022. (Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP via Getty Images)
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A drone unit in the National Guard's 27th Pechersk Brigade destroyed a Russian anti-aircraft missile BUK-M1 system worth $10 million, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported on Nov 16.

A Telegram video shared by Klymenko, whose ministry oversees the National Guard, showed the system being targeted at "one of the hottest areas of the front," without specifying which exact area.

On the morning of Nov. 16, the General Staff reported that Russia had lost 999 air defense systems since the start of its full-scale invasion, which would make this loss Russia's 1000th.

The Soviet-era BUK-M1 surface-to-air missile systems have been used by both Ukrainians and Russians in this war. Last year, Ukraine announced it had converted the systems to shoot American missiles.

Ukraine inherited Buk-M1 anti-aircraft systems from the Soviet Union, but the weapons typically use missiles that only Russia produces.

‘We are exhausted’ — how Ukrainians cope with nightly Russian drone attacks
Marharyta Koldanova was standing at a bus stop in a residential area in Kyiv when a sudden loud noise went off, prompting her to take out a tourniquet from her bag and prepare to quickly apply it in case she got injured by an aerial attack. “I was overwhelmed with

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